A man accused of a "shocking and depraved" rape and kidnapping spree told police "If you had caught me for the first two, the rest of this wouldn't have happened," a court heard.

Joseph McCann is charged with 37 counts, including eight of rape, against 11 victims including an 11-year-old boy and a 71-year-old woman.

Over 15 days between April 20 and May 5, the 34-year-old travelled between London, Watford, Manchester, Lancashire and Cheshire.

Through his rampage he kidnapped one young woman - repeatedly raping her while he held her prisoner in his car for over 14 hours, the Old Bailey heard.

The Old Bailey heard McCann was wearing a wig when he attacked his first victim.

McCann began his reign of terror when he kidnapped and raped a 21-year-old woman walking home from Pryzm nightclub in Watford, the Old Bailey was told.

In a police interview played to jurors, the alleged victim revealed her attacker was wearing a wig as he held a knife to her throat and raped her in her own bed.

The young woman said she was walking alone and was on her phone when she felt an arm wrap around her and a knife was put to her neck.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: "I felt like something was on my neck and I did tell [my friend on the phone] to call the police and he missed called me a lot of times.

"I just felt the knife and his arm around me. He had his arm around me so I could not move. He used his right hand to put the knife to my neck. I felt it and it was sharp. I dropped my bag first, but I held on to my phone. He told me to walk to his car and told me to shut up because I was crying."

McCann drove her to a library car park where he accused her of being a girl called "Hayley" who was bullying his sister, the court heard.

At first he said that his sister was going to come to identify her but later changed his story, claiming that men would come to beat her up.

He convinced her he was part of a "firm" and that she had to take cocaine and have sex with him to avoid being attacked.

She said: "He said that he was just waiting for his sister to confirm I was Hayley. Then he said that she texted him to say that it was me definitely.

"He just kept saying that I was Hayley and said that there were some other boys coming down from Harrow to beat me up. Then he said that they are not coming, so I had to join the firm and to join the firm I had to sniff some packet.

"He was kinda scaring me, saying he had got out of prison doing 18 years.

"He kept making me drink this Malibu as well as just kept saying that I was in his firm and my whole family would be well looked after, and I would not ever have to do anything that I didn't want to because I was his girlfriend."

McCann took her back to her flat and checked for her brother who she lived with before raping her, the court heard.

The next morning, the court heard that McCann forced her to take more cocaine and drink alcohol before saying he would drop her off at her son's house.

She said that at a petrol station on the way he removed a wig and exchanged it for a hat.

At the Old Bailey, a jury heard yesterday McCann abducted two women from Walthamstow and Edgware, in which he raped a 25-year-old woman "many times" over a 14 hour period. The two women finally escaped from his car in North Watford after smashing a vodka bottle over his head.

Previous story: Alleged serial rapist embarked on 'series of shocking sex attacks'

It is alleged McCann, from Harrow, then travelled north.

The court heard McCann held a family of three prisoner, tying a mother to a bed while he sexually assaulted her young son and teen daughter in the next room.

The court heard how the family only escaped when the daughter, a 17-year-old girl, jumped from a window naked and ran to a neighbour's house to call the police.

Later that day he forced a pensioner to drive him around as he snatched children from the street, it is alleged.

When one victim escaped, he would find another within hours.

On the final day of his spree he is accused of stopping at a petrol station to buy condoms with two teenage girls held hostage in her car.

But McCann's terrifying spree soon came to an end, the jury heard. After passing a marked police car on a roundabout the defendant was said to have crashed the car into a Mercedes before he ran away - leaving the two teenage girls behind.

They were "shocked, very frightened, and distressed. But mercifully unharmed," said Mr Price QC.

McCann was then said to have taken a mountain bike to escape.

The bike was later found outside a restaurant in Scholar Green, south of Stoke-on-Trent where staff told police a man came into to ask to borrow a phone.

The court heard how the man, said to be McCann was overheard ordering a taxi which arrived shortly afterwards to take him away.

Mr Price QC said: "The police had put up roadblocks. PC David Reed was manning one on the A34 just to the south of Congleton.

"At 8.40pm he caused a taxi to stop. By that time the police had the name and a very good description of the man they were searching for.

"They also knew he had a distinctive tattoo on his stomach. Looking into the back of the taxi PC Reed suspected the passenger was the man they were looking for.

"The man had a pint glass in his hand and stated to the officer he had been drinking in pubs with his mates all day long and was on his way home. Asked if he had a tattoo on his tummy, he said, 'No, you're not f****** seeing.'"

He fled from the taxi and police pursued him into a field where he was later found in a tree. After a several hour stand-off he was arrested.

He was then transported to London by officers.

Today, prosecutor John Price QC told the jury: "Though he refused to be interviewed after he arrived in London, Joseph McCann did say something of relevance to an officer involved in accompanying him on that journey.

"This was perhaps a little closer to the truth. He told DC Foxwell, 'If you had caught me for the first two, the rest of this wouldn't have happened,'."

McCann, who was not in the dock, denies 37 counts, including eight of rape, against victims as young as 11 and as old as 71.

The trial continues.